文豪ストレイドッグス 1 [Bungō Stray Dogs 1] by Kafka Asagiri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Watched the anime first. Got into it because my girl insisted.

But really? It's an okay start--but that is nothing compared to what will come.

So really, I know I need to be patient. There are a TON of literary references. Most of the characters are either Japanese classic authors or worldwide classic authors. And their powers all have something to do with the literature. :)

It doesn't quite show off quite this early, but the action and mafia magic is pretty cool right off the bat.

View all my reviews

The Hedge Wizard by Alex Maher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I kinda expected a more LitRPG read out of this, but that being said, it's still a pretty middle-of-the-road fantasy.

YA wizard, setting out on his own, then with an iffy group of adventurers, all the way to a whole Kobold adventure. (Yes, dragons are eventually involved.)


Honestly? It was fine for what it is. Fantasy, almost D&D down-to-earth. A light adventure, as grounded as you please. And this is good. For exactly what it is.



View all my reviews

The Overnight by Ramsey Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So. I really wanted to get back in to reading Ramsey Campbell after vaguely remembering I'd loved reading Ancient Images many years ago, and my buddy reader and I thought this particular book might be right up our alley because it deals with spookiness and perhaps deaths in a bookstore.

Yeah, well. Let's put it this way: if you consider a huge chain bookstore with harried workers and the very idea of service industry being HORROR, then I think you and this book would get along quite well for the first 2/3rds.

For me, at least, I just wanted to see some deaths, not just errant apostrophes. Alas, I was hoping for a cozy, book-centric, overnight caretaker kind of story, but it wasn't to be.

If you can get to the last third of the book, however, the supernatural stuff gets pretty fun. Getting that far, however, was something of a burden.

View all my reviews

H.P. Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep by H.P. Lovecraft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's one thing to read Lovecraft during Spooktober.

It's another thing to read Lovecraft to your meh'd daughter whilst hamming it up to beyond-purple levels of voice-acting, getting into the madness, the vocal terror, the rising, shrill insanity, and howling about the green-lit snow and the extra-dimensional gods.

Oh, yeah, I cackled. I cackled as I read it to her. I cackled that meh right out of her.

Muahahahahahahahahaha

View all my reviews

The Regulators by Richard Bachman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, when it comes to straight character descriptions done quick and dirty, only to have those characters done dirty and quick, Stephen King excels. Or rather, Bachman reaches pure SK levels. *wink*

The whole setup and increasingly crazy add-ons past the drive-by kept me glued to the pages. Fun to see the connections to Desperation, too.



So why didn't I give this a full 5 stars? Mostly because the supernatural twists were almost un-needed. Sure, I LOVE the connections to everything else, but in this case? The shootings were STRONG and fascinating all by themselves. So, I just don't know. It's a feeling.

Either way, the book was absolutely delicious.

View all my reviews

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For as much as I love Emma Newman's SF books and trust her talent at writing in general, I didn't quite click with this more traditional mostly-fae political UF. That's not to say I actually disliked it, but I was a bit ... bored with the subject material.

It just reminded me a bit of Maas in the feel of it. For those who love that, I'm sure they'd love this.

The quality is there, but I simply couldn't click. Alas.

View all my reviews

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a story that will stay with me. That's high praise, by the way.

Oh, to think about working at Disneyland FantasticLand when something goes really wrong.

I mean, emergency preparation people will be fine, right? And the kids, they'll be okay just as long as they keep a cool head, right? But yeah, we've all read Lord of the Flies, right? These things DO end up well, right?

Right?

Muahahahahahahaha, yeah. Over a month stranded in this place and we've got a mix between Covid stir-crazy and Lord of the Flies on crack, plus our little darlings go all deadpool and pirates on us, with a little Westeros thrown in.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Oh, and I love how this book was written as a series of interviews. It gave us all the best foreshadowings and the characters were all at their most self-serving best.

Delicious.

View all my reviews